Sarwar: Both votes for Labour to let Holyrood focus on recovery

Anas Sarwar has urged Scots to give Scottish Labour both votes at the upcoming election to deprive the SNP a majority and to provide a “better opposition” than the Tories.

The Scottish Labour leader is launching an advertising campaign urging voters to back his party on both the constituency and regional list ballots.

Sarwar has warned that if the Scottish Conservatives remain as the largest opposition party after May’s election, then the next five years of the Scottish Parliament would focus on “old arguments”.

Describing the Tories as “game-playing and incompetent”, Sarwar has instead pledged to focus on a “national recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic in the next parliament.

Speaking ahead of the launch of an ad van campaign, he said: “For too long the people of Scotland have been let down by the SNP government and a game-playing and incompetent Tory opposition.

“We cannot let the circus of the last few weeks become the parliament of the next five years.

“The people of Scotland deserve a better parliament, and to do that, they need a better government and a better opposition.

“And the key to getting a better government is having a better opposition.

“We need a parliament focused on our national recovery from the pandemic – but Boris Johnson’s Tories only want to take us back to the old arguments.

“This week, postal votes start arriving on doormats as the democratic process of shaping our nation’s parliament for the next five years gets under way.

“Only a vote for Scottish Labour can stop an SNP majority and deliver a parliament that prioritises national recovery so that we can build a fairer and stronger Scotland.”